


Mother

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7112254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex finds a lost baby kitsune and adopts it. Linda makes her take it back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother

Alex often rode through the forest near the school, just enjoying the quietness. It had always been a little mysterious, too- her mother had told her often when she was younger about mystical creatures that called the forest home. She remembered searching for fairies as a child, looking around fairy rings and leaving out honey to lure them. Now, she knew better how to find fairies.

But she wasn’t looking for fairies today. At least, that wasn’t her goal. She just liked to ride around the forest.

_“Alex, I can hear something,” _said Tin Can, looking towards a little cluster of small trees.__

__“I can hear it too,” said Alex. She rode towards the sound, but dismounted and approached on foot instead as it became clearer. It sounded like something crying. Like a little animal._ _

__Alex pushed into the little circle of trees, leaving Tin Can behind her, and found herself in a tiny little clearing. It was carpeted with soft pine needles, and protected from the sun but for a few dapples._ _

__Lying in one of the dapples was a little tiny fox thing. It looked like a fox but Alex could sense that it had magic. She didn’t dare try to use the shadow sight that came with using her magic to see for sure if it was magical, just in case she hurt the creature._ _

__“Hey, little guy,” she said, kneeling down near the little creature. “Are you hurt?” She reached a hand out and the creature lifted its head, twitching its nose and tufted ears. Alex looked around, but she couldn’t see any other creatures like that. The animal was alone._ _

__Tin Can snorted and tossed his mane when Alex emerged from the trees with the little fox thing cradled in her arms._ _

___“Your mother won’t like you bringing home an animal,”_ he said._ _

__“I don’t care, it’s my baby,” said Alex. “I’ll get Herman to keep it at the stables.”_ _

___“He’ll probably also be able to tell you what it is,”_ said Tin Can, remaining perfectly still until Alex had returned to her rightful place on his back._ _

__Just as hoped, Herman knew exactly what the little fox thing was._ _

__“Ah, you’ve found a kitsune,” he said, smiling after Alex had tracked him down._ _

__“So that’s what it is,” said Alex. “Do you think you can keep it here at the stables?”_ _

__“I suppose that I can,” said Herman, rubbing his chin. “But shouldn’t you try to find its mother?”_ _

__“I’m its mother,” said Alex automatically. “Well, I’m its mother now, anyway.”_ _

__“You should tell Fripp about this,” said Herman. “He might know something or someone who knows something.”_ _

__“But I want to keep it,” said Alex. “Its parents don’t care about it, neither of them were around when I found it.”_ _

__“I suppose that they could have been killed by predators,” said Herman. “Or hunters, considering their magical nature.”_ _

__“So it’s a little orphan and I adopted it and it’s my baby now,” said Alex, smiling. “Please can I keep it?”_ _

__“We shall see what Fripp has to say,” said Herman. “You can go and see him when you’re not too busy. But right now, you did promise to fix that hay feeder.”_ _

__“I fixed it yesterday,” said Alex._ _

__“Yes, it broke again,” said Herman. “Old machinery tends to do that.”_ _

__Alex rolled her eyes but went to work fixing the hay feeder again, keeping the little kitsune close to her. When she was done, she washed her hands and sat petting and cuddling the little thing._ _

__“Now, that’s a sight I thought I’d never see,” said Linda, walking over from the stables. “Big, strong Alex cuddling a little baby kitsune.”_ _

__“It’s my baby,” said Alex. “I found it in the woods. Herman says it’s probably orphaned. I still have to tell Fripp about it, though.”_ _

__“And you don’t want to,” Linda guessed, seeing Alex’s frown._ _

__“Of course I don’t,” said Alex. “I want to keep it.”_ _

__“I know you do,” said Linda. “But if its real parents are alive, they’ll want their baby back.”_ _

__“If they loved it so much, why did they leave it alone?” asked Alex. “Good parents wouldn’t just abandon their kids.”_ _

__“Because animals go out hunting for food for their young,” said Linda. “Silly. Where did you find it?”_ _

__“In a little circle of trees on a soft bed of pine needles,” said Alex. She frowned and looked down at the baby in her lap. “It was in its nest, wasn’t it?”_ _

__“I’d say so,” said Linda. “Can you go see Fripp right now? I’m sure its parents are worried sick about it, and you don’t want to get on the bad side of magical creatures, do you?”_ _

__“No,” said Alex. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll take it to Fripp.” She got up and her hair swung over her face, hiding her expression from her friend. That was good, because crying would have totally ruined her tough girl image._ _

__“I’ll go with you,” said Linda._ _

__“Why?” asked Alex. “I don’t need emotional support.” The crack in her voice said otherwise._ _

__“I can see the past, present, and future,” said Linda. “Also your shoulders are shaking.”_ _

__“It’s not fair,” said Alex. She held the little kitsune close to her, and it licked a tear off her cheek which made her giggle._ _

__“Neither is having a silly human take your child,” said Linda. “Cheer up, you’ll have your own baby someday. Just not now.”_ _

__“I guess you’re right,” said Alex, and sniffled. She took a deep breath. “Well, let’s go see Fripp.”_ _

__Just as Alex had silently feared, Fripp was waiting at the regular place with two worried-looking kitsunes._ _

__“There’s our baby!” A woman suddenly appeared where one of the foxes had been, and ran to Alex to take the kitsune out of her arms. Alex bit her lip, trying not to cry as the woman cooed over her baby._ _

__“Why did you take him?” asked the male kitsune, appearing as a man. He frowned at Alex._ _

__“I’m sorry, I just heard him crying and thought that maybe he was in trouble,” said Alex, losing her battle with the tears. She didn’t wipe them away, though._ _

__“Such a foolish human thing to do,” said the man. “Taking a cute little baby animal and claiming it as your own.”_ _

__“Calm down, Andrew,” said the woman. “Can’t you see that she’s upset enough already?”_ _

__“Your wife is right,” said Fripp. “Please, Andrew, calm your temper. This girl is a Soulrider, not just some foolish human.”_ _

__“The Lightning Soulrider, to be precise,” said Linda. “He was in the safest hands possible.”_ _

__“Where were you when he was in his nest crying?” asked Alex, finally wiping away her tears and glaring at the man._ _

__“Alex,” said Linda, reaching a hand out to her friend, but Alex batted her hand away._ _

__“Where were you?” Alex repeated, trembling with barely contained rage. “He was all alone in that nest, crying for his parents, and you weren’t there.”_ _

__“He was hardly in danger,” said the man. “We were out hunting for food for him, and patrolling the area to check for potential threats.”_ _

___“He has a point,”_ said Tin Can. _“The nest was certainly safe enough.”__ _

__“But he’s just a baby and you left him on his own,” said Alex. “How could you do that?”_ _

__“Baby kitsunes aren’t like baby humans, Soulrider,” said Fripp. “His parents were on the way back to him as soon as he started crying. They don’t need constant attention.”_ _

__“Oh,” said Alex, and immediately began to calm down. “Well, sorry for taking him.” She stepped back and took her hat off, then scraped her hair back with her fingers and replaced it to get her hair back out of her face._ _

__“You are fortunate that it was not another supernatural creature that you found,” said Fripp. “Some of them imitate the cry of an infant to lure their prey in and ultimately kill them.”_ _

__“I would’ve been fine,” said Alex with a wave of her hand. “I could’ve just flicked Soulstrike at them.”_ _

__“While that would have worked, you should not be so flippant with such a deadly power,” said Fripp._ _

__“Deadly?” asked Alex. She frowned. “It just kind of crystallises them for a while, doesn’t it?”_ _

__“I can’t tell you now,” said Fripp. “You have already been through too much today. You may go now.”_ _

__“No, what did you mean about my power?” asked Alex, but Fripp had already disappeared. The kitsunes ran off too. She growled. “Damn squirrel.”_ _

__“It’s for the best that he didn’t answer you,” said Linda. “Trust me.”_ _

__Alex looked at her friend and decided that she had no choice but to trust her. Not that she wouldn’t try to weasel it out of her, though._ _


End file.
